Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Temples Built Not of Stone

Read: 1 Peter 2: 4-12

Two of the greatest mysteries of the ancient world concern construction. The great pyramids at Giza were some of the largest stone structures of the ancient world, built with granite boulders several tons each. Historians and archaeologists continue to debate on how the Egyptians lifted the stones into place. Macchu Picchu, the great mountaintop fortress of the Incan Empire in Peru, was built so well that you could not slip a knife blade between any two building stones!
To the Jews of the time, the only building that mattered was the Temple of Jerusalem. It was not built with the stability and structural engineering that went into Macchu Picchu, but no matter - in Jewish theology, this was where the Spirit of God lived. No wonder the Jews were confuddled when Jesus declared that if the Temple were destroyed, he could raise it in three days! I would imagine St. Peter himself was just as confused.

But a few years later the Spirit-filled St. Peter understood what Jesus meant, and he wrote to the Church in what is largely today Turkey that the Spirit lives somewhere closer: our hearts. God, instead of living in a Temple made of rock, decided to live in the Church made of human hearts. What does that look like? For that, we’ll need to zone in on verses 9-12.

Note verse 9. Peter, here, speaks about the purpose of the Church, the assembly of God (or, ekklesia). I’m going to state it here in St. Peter’s words: the purpose of the Church is to declare the praises of Him who has called the Church out of darkness into His wonderful light. Basically, it is to worship Him.
This worship is not exclusively individual, even though worship has an individual component to it. So many half-baked praise music out there is all about my faith, my life, my love, me, myself, and moi. But in verse 10, Peter reminds us that we were once not one people. We were Chinese, Taiwanese, Cantonese, mixed, Caucasian, Black, etc. Or, we were rich, poor; smart, dumb; 5.0 GPAs, not 5.0 GPAs; good-looking, fat; good universities, not-good universities. The categorization goes on.

But, as this year’s youth group theme reminds us boldly, in the Church there are no barriers to worship, no categorizations. The Spirit tears breaks dividing walls of individualism, materialism, racism, elitism, so that all can come together in unrestricted worship of our Lord Jesus Christ, made possible through the blood of Christ. Yes! The Lord our God, the great Lover of our souls, the Giver of all good things, wants no walls between Him and us! He waits for us with open arms so that we all can run to Him and all be children of the Living God! What a privilege, my friends! Have you torn down dividing walls so that you can truly take up God’s offer to be His child? Have you helped others tear down dividing walls so that they can also take up God’s beautiful offer?
As His people, we are to live a life worthy of being members of the Church. Not because we have to, but because we should. As a result some things of this world simply won’t jive with you. According to verse 11, Christians are exactly like that in this world. Now that we are the family of God, we run things God’s way, but that’s not always the way the world wants to run. Maybe you see your non-Christian friends (or even Christian ones!) doing things they shouldn’t be doing, but in the Church, we are to run away from those actions. We live in this world, yes, but we shouldn’t feel like we fit snugly. It’s as if we were, as the great theologian Stanley Hauerwas said, resident aliens living in a Christian colony in this world. We live in this world, but are ultimately never of it.
That’s why we return to verses 4-5, especially verse 5. To shape the Church to be a mighty bulwark that’s never failing, we are constantly being molded so that we look like and fit seamlessly with the Cornerstone that is Christ Jesus. This may sound remarkably like the construction of the Great Pyramids of Giza. After the slaves carved out the one-ton stones from the Aswan quarry, they’re placed together seamlessly.
But then, when the stones are all in place, they chip off the corners so that the pyramid will have smooth sides. The result is a pyramid that reflects the so well that from the ancient capital of Memphis, everyone can see the glimmering glory of the Pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure who built the pyramids.
Like the stonemasons who carved its granite stones, God chisels our lingering imperfections from our lives so that we, together, can fully reflect the glory that is His alone. So close is the bond between brothers and sisters of Christ that Satan can’t even put slide a blade of deception between two of them, just like the stones of Macchu Picchu!

So as we close today I leave all of you with a few questions to think about.
1. Do we allow God to mold and chisel us so that we fit with each other in the story of God’s work on earth? Are we like the stones of Giza and Macchu Picchu, where Satan can’t even fit a knife blade between us?
2. Are we active in tearing down dividing walls between us and God? How about helping others tear down dividing walls between them and God?

Wednesday: Pray for friends (inside and outside church)
Pray for a friend who is going through a difficult situation. Ask God to give them strength.

No comments:

Post a Comment